FRANCE: Migrants and refugees set fire to detention center over deportations

PARIS — In protest of the strict enforcement of French immigration policies, people at the administrative detention center for illegal immigrants in the Mesnil-Amelot area, northeast of Paris, set fire to the center.

According to solidarity association La Cimade, which supports immigrants and refugees, a Congolese man and an Egyptian man set fire to their room in protest of a court decision to deport them following three months in detention after refusing to carry out the necessary corona tests for deportation from French territory.

According to a police source, there were riots at the headquarters in which about 70 people were involved setting fire to two buildings.

Le Figaro reported that no one was injured, either by the police or by the migrants.

🔴A 11h10, des personnes détenues au #CRA 3 du Mesnil-Amelot ont déclenché un incendie. Les pompiers sont sur place, pas de blessés
Elles se révoltent contre l’imposition d'un test #PCR, leur #expulsion étant conditionnée à la présentation d’un test négatif récent #FermerlesCRA

— La Cimade (@lacimade) January 20, 2021